IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/eneeco/v86y2020ics0140988319304542.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do sticky energy prices impact the time paths of rebound effects associated with energy efficiency actions?

Author

Listed:
  • Figus, Gioele
  • McGregor, Peter G.
  • Swales, J. Kim
  • Turner, Karen

Abstract

There is broad consensus in the policy and academic communities regarding the importance of energy efficiency actions in reducing energy requirements and subsequent greenhouse gas emissions. However, there is also a requirement to understand the extent to which the technically possible energy savings from exogenously introduced efficiency improvements might be eroded by knock-on economic effects which will further change energy use. These effects strongly influence the way this ‘rebound’ phenomenon evolves over time. While economy-wide drivers of rebound effects are well understood, there has been some controversy over the relative sizes of the short- and long-run rebound effects associated with energy efficiency improvements. Theoretical analysis predicted that rebound effects would always be greater in the long run than in the short run. However, numerical general equilibrium simulations have contradicted this result. A principal driver of the simulation results is the fully flexible response of energy supply prices to shifting demand. However, in practice, there are a number of reasons for arguing that energy prices are likely to be ‘sticky’. In this paper we systematically explore the effects of energy price stickiness on the evolution of rebound effects. We find that price stickiness is an important determinant of the time path of rebound effects and of their relative size in the short and long runs. Moreover, there is considerable variation in the scale of rebound effects through time, especially where short-run rebound is lower than its long-run counterpart. However, the most significant overall finding is that rebound reflects the system-wide interaction between energy producing and energy using sectors.

Suggested Citation

  • Figus, Gioele & McGregor, Peter G. & Swales, J. Kim & Turner, Karen, 2020. "Do sticky energy prices impact the time paths of rebound effects associated with energy efficiency actions?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:86:y:2020:i:c:s0140988319304542
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2019.104657
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140988319304542
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.eneco.2019.104657?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Blanchflower, David G. & Oswald, Andrew J., 2005. "The Wage Curve Reloaded," IZA Discussion Papers 1665, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Karen Turner, 2013. ""Rebound" Effects from Increased Energy Efficiency: A Time to Pause and Reflect," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 4).
    3. Paul M. Sweezy, 1939. "Demand Under Conditions of Oligopoly," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 47(4), pages 568-568.
    4. Mark Partridge & Dan Rickman, 2010. "Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) Modelling for Regional Economic Development Analysis," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(10), pages 1311-1328.
    5. Turner, Karen, 2009. "Negative rebound and disinvestment effects in response to an improvement in energy efficiency in the UK economy," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 648-666, September.
    6. R. L. Hall & C. J. Hitch, 1939. "Price Theory And Business Behaviour," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 0(1), pages 12-45.
    7. repec:bla:ecorec:v:66:y:1990:i:193:p:110-26 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Philip D. Adams & Peter J. Higgs, 1990. "Calibration of Computable General Equilibrium Models from Synthetic Benchmark Equilibrium Data Sets," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 66(2), pages 110-126, June.
    9. Wei, Taoyuan, 2007. "Impact of energy efficiency gains on output and energy use with Cobb-Douglas production function," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 2023-2030, April.
    10. Lance J. Bachmeier & James M. Griffin, 2003. "New Evidence on Asymmetric Gasoline Price Responses," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 85(3), pages 772-776, August.
    11. Allan, Grant & Hanley, Nick & McGregor, Peter & Swales, Kim & Turner, Karen, 2007. "The impact of increased efficiency in the industrial use of energy: A computable general equilibrium analysis for the United Kingdom," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 779-798, July.
    12. Dixon, Peter B. & Rimmer, Maureen T., 2011. "You can't have a CGE recession without excess capacity," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(1-2), pages 602-613, January.
    13. Bunn, Philip & Ellis, Colin, 2011. "How do individual UK consumer prices behave?," Bank of England working papers 438, Bank of England.
    14. Mirza, Faisal Mehmood & Bergland, Olvar, 2012. "Pass-through of wholesale price to the end user retail price in the Norwegian electricity market," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(6), pages 2003-2012.
    15. Saunders, Harry D., 2013. "Historical evidence for energy efficiency rebound in 30 US sectors and a toolkit for rebound analysts," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 80(7), pages 1317-1330.
    16. Saunders, Harry D., 2008. "Fuel conserving (and using) production functions," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 2184-2235, September.
    17. Farkas, Richárd & Yontcheva, Biliana, 2019. "Price transmission in the presence of a vertically integrated dominant firm: Evidence from the gasoline market," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 223-237.
    18. Lecca, Patrizio & McGregor, Peter G. & Swales, Kim J. & Tamba, Marie, 2017. "The Importance of Learning for Achieving the UK's Targets for Offshore Wind," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 259-268.
    19. Blanchflower, David G & Oswald, Andrew J, 1994. "Estimating a Wage Curve for Britain: 1973-90," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 104(426), pages 1025-1043, September.
    20. Böhringer, Christoph & Keller, Andreas & van der Werf, Edwin, 2013. "Are green hopes too rosy? Employment and welfare impacts of renewable energy promotion," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 277-285.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chen, Jiandong & Gao, Ming & Shahbaz, Muhammad & Cheng, Shulei & Song, Malin, 2021. "An improved decomposition approach toward energy rebound effects in China: Review since 1992," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    2. Li, Rongrong & Li, Shuyu, 2021. "Carbon emission post-coronavirus: Continual decline or rebound?," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 57-67.
    3. Zhen, Wei & Qin, Quande & Miao, Lu, 2023. "The greenhouse gas rebound effect from increased energy efficiency across China's staple crops," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    4. Zhang, Wenbei & Luckert, Marty & Qiu, Feng, 2023. "Asymmetric price transmission and impulse responses from U.S. crude oil to jet fuel and diesel markets," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 283(C).
    5. Zimmermann, Michel & Vöhringer, Frank & Thalmann, Philippe & Moreau, Vincent, 2021. "Do rebound effects matter for Switzerland? Assessing the effectiveness of industrial energy efficiency improvements," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    6. Sarasa, Cristina & Turner, Karen, 2021. "Can a combination of efficiency initiatives give us “good” rebound effects?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 235(C).
    7. Lin, Boqiang & Zhu, Runqing, 2022. "How does market-oriented reform influence the rebound effect of China’s mining industry?," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 34-44.
    8. Yuan, Zhen & Xu, Jie & Li, Bing & Yao, Tingting, 2022. "Limits of technological progress in controlling energy consumption: Evidence from the energy rebound effects across China's industrial sector," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).
    9. Han, Hongyun & Zhou, Zinan, 2024. "The rebound effect of energy consumption and its determinants in China's agricultural production," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 290(C).
    10. Wei Zhen & Quande Qin & Lei Jiang, 2022. "Heterogeneous Domestic Intermediate Input-Related Carbon Emissions in China’s Exports," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 81(3), pages 453-479, March.
    11. Jarke-Neuert, Johannes & Perino, Grischa, 2020. "Energy efficiency promotion backfires under cap-and-trade," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rocha, Felipe Freitas da & Almeida, Edmar Luiz Fagundes de, 2021. "A general equilibrium model of macroeconomic rebound effect: A broader view," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    2. Lemoine, Derek, 2020. "General equilibrium rebound from energy efficiency innovation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    3. Gioele Figus & Peter McGregor & J Kim Swales & Karen Turner, 2018. "The importance of energy price stickiness and real wage inflexibility for the time paths of rebound effects," Working Papers 1804, University of Strathclyde Business School, Department of Economics.
    4. Lu, Yingying & Liu, Yu & Zhou, Meifang, 2017. "Rebound effect of improved energy efficiency for different energy types: A general equilibrium analysis for China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 248-256.
    5. Broberg, Thomas & Berg, Charlotte & Samakovlis, Eva, 2015. "The economy-wide rebound effect from improved energy efficiency in Swedish industries–A general equilibrium analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 26-37.
    6. Turner, Karen, 2009. "Negative rebound and disinvestment effects in response to an improvement in energy efficiency in the UK economy," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 648-666, September.
    7. Blackburn, Christopher J. & Moreno-Cruz, Juan, 2021. "Energy efficiency in general equilibrium with input–output linkages," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    8. Gilmartin, Michelle & Swales, Kim J. & Turner, Karen, 2008. "A comparison of results from MRIO and interregional computable general equilibrium (CGE) analyses of the impacts of a positive demand shock on the ‘CO2 trade balance’ between Scotland and the rest," SIRE Discussion Papers 2008-24, Scottish Institute for Research in Economics (SIRE).
    9. Ahmann, Lara & Banning, Maximilian & Lutz, Christian, 2022. "Modeling rebound effects and counteracting policies for German industries," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 197(C).
    10. Stern, David I., 2020. "How large is the economy-wide rebound effect?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    11. David I. Stern, 2017. "How accurate are energy intensity projections?," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 143(3), pages 537-545, August.
    12. Sondes Kahouli & Xavier Pautrel, 2020. "Residential and Industrial Energy Efficiency Improvement: A Dynamic General Equilibrium Analysis of the Rebound Effect," Working Papers 2020.28, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    13. Wang, Jiayu & Yu, Shuao & Liu, Tiansen, 2021. "A theoretical analysis of the direct rebound effect caused by energy efficiency improvement of private consumers," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 171-181.
    14. Bruns, Stephan B. & Moneta, Alessio & Stern, David I., 2021. "Estimating the economy-wide rebound effect using empirically identified structural vector autoregressions," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    15. Yu, Xuewei & Moreno-Cruz, Juan & Crittenden, John C., 2015. "Regional energy rebound effect: The impact of economy-wide and sector level energy efficiency improvement in Georgia, USA," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 250-259.
    16. Gioele Figus & Patrizio Lecca & Karen Turner & Peter McGregor, 2016. "Increased energy efficiency in Scottish households: trading-off economic benefits and energy rebound effects?," EcoMod2016 9454, EcoMod.
    17. Brockway, Paul E. & Sorrell, Steve & Semieniuk, Gregor & Heun, Matthew Kuperus & Court, Victor, 2021. "Energy efficiency and economy-wide rebound effects: A review of the evidence and its implications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    18. Gioele Figus & Patrizio Lecca & Peter McGregor & Karen Turner, 2017. "Energy efficiency as an instrument of regional development policy? Trading-off the benefits of an economic stimulus and energy rebound effects," Working Papers 1702, University of Strathclyde Business School, Department of Economics.
    19. Saunders, Harry D. & Roy, Joyashree & Azevedo, Inês M.L. & Chakravarty, Debalina & Dasgupta, Shyamasree & De La Rue Du Can, Stephane & Druckman, Angela & Fouquet, Roger & Grubb, Michael & Lin, Boqiang, 2021. "Energy efficiency: what has research delivered in the last 40 years?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 114344, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    20. Anson, Sam & Turner, Karen, 2009. "Rebound and disinvestment effects in refined oil consumption and supply resulting from an increase in energy efficiency in the Scottish commercial transport sector," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(9), pages 3608-3620, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Energy efficiency; Evolution of energy rebound; Price stickiness;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C68 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Computable General Equilibrium Models
    • D58 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium - - - Computable and Other Applied General Equilibrium Models
    • Q43 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Energy and the Macroeconomy
    • Q48 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Government Policy

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:86:y:2020:i:c:s0140988319304542. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/eneco .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.